Operation REDWING, a 17-test nuclear weapons series, was conducted at the Pacific Proving Ground between May 4 and July 21, 1956. The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) tested high-yield thermonuclear devices that could not be tested at the Nevada Test Site.

Over 10,000 military personnel and civilian employees of the AEC and the Department of Defense participated in these nuclear tests. The LACROSSE and CHEROKEE tests were observed from aboard the USS Mount McKinley by 15 American press, radio and television reporters. These were the first uncleared U.S. civilians in ten years to observe an American nuclear test in the Pacific.

The AEC's progress in miniaturization of warheads had accelerated to where the equivalent of the nearly 90-ton weight of the MIKE device in Operation IVY could now be dropped from a bomber. Operation REDWING also further advanced the AEC's designs of nuclear weapons that would produce reduced fallout and provided new information for the design of nuclear warheads for missiles.

Complete weapons systems were exposed to blast effects in Operation REDWING, and a fallout computer was successfully used for the first time. The series included the CHEROKEE test, the first airdrop by U.S. of a thermonuclear weapon.

Tests comprising the 1956 Operation REDWING were as follows:

LACROSSE, May 4, Enewetak (Runit Island), surface, weapons related, 40 kilotons (kt)

CHEROKEE, May 20, Bikini (near Nam Island), airdrop, weapons related, 3.8 megatons (Mt) (allowed scientists to make some unique measurements)

ZUNI, May 27, Bikini (Eneman Island), surface, weapons related, 3.5 Mt

YUMA, May 27, Enewetak (Aomon Island), tower, weapons related, 190 tons

ERIE, May 30, Enewetak (Runit Island), tower, weapons related, 14.9 kt

SEMINOLE, June 6, Enewetak (Boken Island), surface, weapons related, 13.7 kt

FLATHEAD, June 11, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 365 kt

BLACKFOOT, June 11, Enewetak (Runit Island), tower, weapons related, 8 kt

KICKAPOO, June 13, Enewetak (Aomon Island), tower, weapons related, 1.49 kt

OSAGE, June 16, Enewetak (near Runit Island), airdrop, weapons related, 1.7 kt

INCA, June 21, Enewetak ( Lujor Island), tower, weapons related, 15.2 kt

DAKOTA, June 25, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 1.1 Mt

MOHAWK, July 2, Enewetak (Eleleron Island), tower, weapons related, 360 kt

APACHE, July 8, Enewetak (off Dridrilbwij Island), barge, weapons related, 1.85 Mt

NAVAJO, July 10, Bikini (off Iroij Island), barge, weapons related, 4.5 Mt

TEWA, July 20, Bikini (off Nam Island), barge, weapons related, 5 Mt

HURON, July 21, Enewetak (off Dridrilbwij Island), barge, weapons related, 250 kt

This formerly secret film was produced through the top secret Lookout Mountain Laboratory, located in the Hollywood Hills of California, under the joint command of the United States Air Force and the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project (AFSWP).

The intention of this film was a derivative technical report for viewing by top secret oversight committees of United States Congress and as a project film archive of the United States military.

Related sites:

http://www.archive.org/details/ExerciseDesertRock1951

http://www.archive.org/details/OperationGreenhouse1951

http://www.archive.org/details/TumblerSnapper1952

http://www.archive.org/details/OperationIVY1952

http://www.archive.org/details/CastleCommandersReport1954


This movie is part of the collection: Community Video

Producer: AFSWP and Joint Task Force 7
Production Company: Lookout Mountain Laboratory, U.S. Air Force, Hollywood California
Audio/Visual: sound, mono, color, originated from 16 mm color celluloid stocks of the time
Language: English
Keywords: Operation Redwing; Redwing; atomic; nuclear; Cold War; atomic testing; nuclear testing; 1951; military; Eniwetok; Enewetak; Eniwetak; Bikini; Bikini Atoll; Pacific Proving Ground; national defense; Department of Defense; Department of Energy; radiation; radioactivity; fallout; radioactive; thermonuclear test; thermonuclear

Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs

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Reviewer: alexvon - - December 6, 2008
Subject: Public Domain
This title is public domain and has no restrictions on use per the the US Government and the US Copyright Office as all US Government produced materials are public domain. Simple transfer to a different medium with no new creative content does not constitute a new valid copyright. Feel free to use this without restrictions or re upload without these restrictions.

Reviewer: Kevin VandeWettering - - October 14, 2007
Subject: This film cannot be "licensed"
This is an interesting film and has lots of footage of nuclear tests.

However, as stated in the description, this film is a product of the United States government and therefore is not eligible for copyright protection.

Any claim of this "licensor" is invalid. Works created by the US government are public domain.

Credits

The license holder of this film insists that any site (or individuals) linking or independently displaying through any Internet protocol to this film, to visibly, clearly and fully credit in text this organization ["Nuclear Weapons Vault"] on any pages linked, for providing this film: "Provided by the Nuclear Weapons Vault" This license does NOT allow derivations or alterations of this film. This license does NOT allow use of any portion of this film as part of other films, and this license does NOT allow artistic or technical alterations or commercial uses. This license does NOT allow this film to be displayed other than its entirety in the final forms of the files posted at Archive.org.